Pearl and Sapphire
by The Light-Hearted Fool
Summary: Ocarina of Time - Amusingly, Ruto was both closer to winning Link than any other female, and so far away from it, too.


**Author:** The Jester  
**Rating: **PG

**Dedication:** To my dear friend, Makyui, with love.

**Disclaimer**: The rights to Legend of Zelda belong to Nintendo, of which the author and editor of this piece of fan fiction are not a part. This piece has not been written for profit, neither is it in circulation for profit.

**Notes:** Technically AU, because of the ambiguous nature of Princess Ruto in an aged timeline…

* * *

Link hadn't wanted to pose for a statue. Mano didn't like indoor lighting, which meant that Link had to pose outdoors, where anyone or everyone had the potential to see. Though Mano assured him that they were in a secluded area, Link continued to be wary. Secluded or not, they were still out in the open, and there was nothing private about that. He felt vulnerable, so undressed out in the open air, at the whim of a mad Zora artist.

"I think we're being watched," Link said again; he'd probably repeat it for another countless time, in a few minutes.

"You're there to be pretty," Mano replied, "not to think."

Link smiled, briefly, at that, but still couldn't shake the feeling. Despite Mano's earlier instruction not to move, Link shifted and glanced around. Of course, that movement was something that easily caught the sculptor's attention.

"Link!" the Zora snapped, looking up sharply, "Don't move!"

Link startled, and then resumed his pose, "It's impossible to not move."

"You should be able to do the impossible."

"Well, why can't I move?"

"It distracts me."

With a sigh, Link went back to trying to stay still. It was going to take Mano an eternity to reach a point where he was satisfied enough to stop. He'd heard the Zora complain about the difficulty of starting and stopping a sculpture repeatedly, after all, and Mano was a perfectionist. Of course, something like scrimshaw was too mundane, in Mano's opinion, so he decided to look for more unique mediums.

In the midst of the search, Link ended up being wrangled into posing for him.

Mano thought that Link was interesting, physically. He had little experience with Hylians – most Zoras did – and their different physique was a wonderful curiosity. Link had a different leanness and sleekness to him that made him interesting to study. If nothing else, non-Zora races were uncommon in art, and that was appealing enough to Mano, in itself.

Link was actually the first Hylian Mano had ever seen. He was actually hard not to see, at the time. He ran about everywhere, and dressed in vivid green. That tended to draw the eye. Mano had only watched him run off in one direction from his distant vantage point, but curiosity found Mano closer to the paths, waiting to see if the creature returned.

And he did.

Mano might have tripped him to get a better look, but that was irrelevant.

Link was very easy to talk to, even after falling into the water, and he was willing to answer any questions Mano had. Mano didn't bother to restrain himself – it was rude not to ask questions one wanted to ask, for it misrepresented one's intentions. Why bother talking if one wasn't going to talk directly?

It was only afterwards, when the seed of friendship was planted, that he'd heard the rumors of Link being the Princess's intended. Preposterous, everyone said! The King would never allow it, and the Princess had much better taste than a Hylian! But, in typical fashion, everyone gossiped about it, anyway.

Meanwhile, Mano never understood why it was so preposterous for the Princess to like a Hylian. It wasn't as if the Princess was planning to marry just _any_ bizarre mammal, like an owl (were owls mammals? It didn't matter, the point still stood valid). Hylians were people, at least. Mano was a forward thinking Zora – people were people, and life wasn't about reproduction.

Neither were art, beauty, or sex, really.

"Just how secluded is this area, anyway?" Link asked, breaking into Mano's concentration, again. He was a charmer, like that.

"Secluded enough that no one's come by, yet," Mano answered.

Mano pretended not to be amused, as Link's thoughts played obviously across his face, and another question followed, "Does that mean that someone _will_ come by?"

"No. Settle down, I'm not going to take much longer."

Mano understood Link's discomfort, to an extent. He could tell that Link's race was more conservative, and more concerned with covering the body. And, really, Mano wouldn't like people being overly curious over his personal anatomy; other Zoras would certainly be curious about Link's anatomy. Mano was fairly confident, though, that no one would just happen by.

In the meantime, the Zora artist briefly wondered if he should be bothered by the irony of secluding people from Link's anatomy in person, while intending to display it in effigy. It didn't take long to decide that Link would have no physical attachment to the effigy, and the effigy was, of course, an effigy. It was not Link, himself, neither did it have Link's emotions or preferences.

It was to be a creation of beauty and grace, though most Zoras would probably only hold it as a wondrous curiosity. Mano was unsure as to how other Hylians appeared, but he did know Link was aesthetically pleasing. Though, the Zora did know his tastes were already unusual. They were likely more unusual than he had already informed his family, in fact, if it was so preposterous for the Princess to hold interest for a Hylian.

Link's tastes, of course, proved to be at least equally unusual, if the Hylian people perceived matters of personal affection and attraction as the Zoras did. It was why he'd allowed Mano to be increasingly more explorative in his curiosity; Link rather liked the Zora's attention. He didn't say as much for quite a while; he'd overheard plenty of scandalized Zoras gossiping about his supposed engagement with Ruto.

Though, that gossip _did_ come in handy, later. Mano was a curious fellow, and it was asking about that gossip (_Oh, this is a silly think to ask, because it's just gossip, of course, but…_) that was the catalyst to their relationship. Link was unwilling to live under the shadow of such rumors (especially after going through the nerve-wracking trouble of talking to Ruto about it, and resolving it at great length) and responded, after floundering poorly for a verbal explanation, by kissing Mano.

Mano was pleasantly surprised by the kiss, and Link was rather glad that it was accepted and not countered with an attack. Afterwards, they had a quite pleasant relationship, full of easy conversation flecked with Mano's artful flattering. Somehow, that convinced Link to be Mano's art model.

Leading, of course, to Link standing for hours on end, not moving, at Mano's whims.

Link shifted again. He was getting tired of standing there on display; past all the nervousness of being seen by random walkers-by, it was a very _boring_ task. And Mano worked _slowly_, with small, meticulous tools. He was about to make another complaint when Mano sighed, and set the tools down.

"All right, you're free. I'm finished for now."

Link felt suddenly energized by the proclamation and, with newfound delight welling in him, he jumped for his discarded clothes. Mano didn't bother to pretend he wasn't amused by such exuberance (over such a small thing, no less). Link was always so lively – it was, quite possibly, his most attractive attribute. Beauty without inner light was not beauty at all, and it certainly wasn't art.

"I might finish faster if you were more patient," Mano informed the quickly dressing Hylian.

"You liar," Link replied, though it was with more amusement than malice, "You'd just make me stand there until I fell over from exhaustion."

"You shouldn't be exhausted just from standing there," Mano told him, as snootily as he could manage, packing his tools away.

"All right, until I fall over from boredom, then."

"Art is never boring."

"Well, I don't know about that, but standing there for hours certainly is."

Mano laughed lightly, walking over to Link, to drape his arms around the Hylian's neck, "It isn't without reward, you know."

Link grinned at him, before saying, "I think I deserve more than a hug…"

"Well, since you are so fidgety…" Mano replied, trailing off as Link leaned in…

And Mano pushed him into the water, while he shouted an indignant, "_Hey!_"

Mano deserved his fun, too; he was the one who sat and worked at a block of stone for hours, after all.


End file.
